Impeaching DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to secure the southern border does not appear to have the support of the some Republican senators.
As border patrol has encountered more than 2.3 million illegal aliens at the border, with over 230,000 migrant encounters in October, establishment Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) appear averse to holding Mayorkas accountable for the southern border invasion.
“Someone has to commit a high crime or misdemeanor for that to be a valid inquiry,” Romney told Politico about impeachment standards. “I haven’t seen any accusation of that nature whatsoever.”
“There are a lot of things I disagree with … but that doesn’t rise to impeachment,” he said about Mayorkas.
Collins, a pro-Donald Trump impeachment vote and McConnell ally, brushed off the question of whether Mayorkas should be impeached.
“That’s not something I’ve heard discussed over here,” Collins replied.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 16: Sen, Susan Collins(R-ME) walks through the halls of the US Capitol before heading into the Senate to vote on putting the Respect for Marriage act on a glide path to victory, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the second highest ranking GOP senator, said an investigation of Mayorkas’s open border should ensue before rushing to impeachment.
“I think there is a legitimate need for oversight … but, I mean, I think it needs to be focused on some specific areas,” Thune said.
Romney and Collins are at odds with some of their Republican colleagues. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have been more aggressive. Penning a letter to Mayorkas in October, they accused Mayorkas of “a gross dereliction of duty and a violation of your oath of office,” and stated a failure to correct the inflow of illegal migrants is grounds for impeachment.
“This is gross dereliction of duty and, if not corrected swiftly, could provide grounds for impeachment,” they wrote.
If impeachment proceedings were launched against Mayorkas, they would be first initiated in the House and then conveyed to the Senate. It is unlikely Republicans have enough votes in the Senate to follow through on impeaching Mayorkas, even if the House successfully voted to impeach.
Some GOP House members support impeaching Mayorkas, like GOP House leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure, and will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said in November.
Mayorkas has “no plans to resign.” Instead, Mayorkas has defended his failure to secure the southern border. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal on Monday, he said the open border was a result of a “broken immigration system” and his failure to enforce the law.
“The immigration system, our laws, have not been reformed for more than 40 years,” Mayorkas said. “The problem from administration to administration, regardless of party, is the fact that we are fundamentally working within a broken immigration system, and that is the foundational challenge, with respect to the border.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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